Fuels

Following the release earlier this year of a report on alternative technologies for using flared natural gas, the Energy and Environmental Research Center (EERC) in North Dakota is set to launch a bi-fuel (natural gas/diesel) drilling rig power source in a demonstration project starting early next year, the center’s associate director told NGI’s Shale Daily Thursday.

A unit of General Electric and natural gas vehicle (NGV) fuel supplier Clean Energy Fuels Corp. said Tuesday they will partner on the development of two liquefied natural gas (LNG) production/storage facilities to help fuel Clean Energy’s proposed national network for fueling long-haul trucking fleets with LNG.

The building of a natural gas transportation fueling network is becoming a reality, according to Seal Beach, CA-based Clean Energy Fuels Corp., which also said compressed natural gas (CNG) service was available for fleets and individuals in seven states ravaged by Hurricane Sandy.

Without counting the ongoing switch to alternative transportation fuels such as natural gas, nearly 80% of current oil consumption used for transportation worldwide could be eliminated in the next 40 years through aggressive fuel efficiency programs, according to two reports released in Paris by the International Energy Agency (IEA), an autonomous nonprofit organization. The IEA reports conclude that the “right policies and technologies” could improve vehicular fuel efficiency by 50% by the middle of the century. According to the IEA, the transportation sector accounts for 20% of world energy consumption and increased demand in the sector is expected to comprise all future growth in oil use globally. However, the reports contend that there is “massive potential” for fuel efficiency improvements to reduce transport fuel demand. One report, “Technology Roadmap: Fuel Economy for Road Vehicles,” outlines technologies to make vehicles much more efficient by 2030, and the second, “Policy Pathway: Improving the Fuel Economy of Road Vehicles,” outlines policy changes in fuel economy labeling, standards and fiscal policies.

After 15 years working to build a market for natural gas in transportation, Seal Beach, CA-based Clean Energy Fuels Corp. has released a public listing of major fleet operators using natural gas vehicles (NGV) in a resources document it is calling “The Road to Natural Gas.” It is a listing of trucking companies, refuse haulers, fleet operators, airports, municipalities and other organizations that have signed new or expanded agreements with Clean Energy to provide transportation fuel and other services for their vehicles and fleets. According to the NGV fuel and infrastructure provider the report contains “only information which has not been previously announced, including recently completed stations on Clean Energy’s designated America’s Natural Gas Highway with a partner, Pilot Flying J, and at other interstate locations. Clean Energy’s report includes new customers that it expects to ultimately use hundreds of thousands of gallons of natural gas fuel every month, according to CEO Andrew Littlefair who added that his company so far this year is exceeding its own internal plans for its core refuse, airport and transit markets. “There are natural gas engines now available for more vehicle classes; the U.S. has an abundant supply of cheap natural gas, and there is a greater understanding of the economic and environmental benefits of using natural gas as a transportation fuel,” Littlefair said.

ESAI Energy’s five-year “Global Industrial Fuels Outlook” concludes that the natural gas liquids (NGL) boom from shale gas development will spur export-oriented investment in petrochemical facilities. Higher petrochemical exports from the United States will target the Latin American market, deterring petrochemical investment in that region.

Noting the deals will help move closer to creating a national highway fueling network for natural gas vehicles (NGV), Clean Energy Fuels Corp. said that it has inked fuel supply deals with five trucking fleets that transport products for some of the nation’s largest and most well-known brands. The five will use compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplied by Clean Energy from existing and new fueling stations for CNG and from Clean Energy stations serving LNG. Clean Energy said the trucking fleets are geographically diverse, but share a common goal of reducing their fuel costs and operating more cleanly. The companies are: Saddle Creek Logistics Services, Lakeland, FL; Premier Transportation, Atlanta, GA; Hoopes Turf Farm, Transportation Division, Ulysses, PA; Lily Transportation , Needham, MA; and Lancaster Foods, Jessup, MD.

Recent technology advances in efficiency management, unconventional fossil fuels and clean energy “have fundamentally changed the energy game and redrawn the global energy map,” according to a white paper issued by Joseph A. Stanislaw, an independent adviser to Deloitte LLP.

The natural gas vehicle (NGV) fueling kit manufacturer at Clean Energy Fuels Corp., BAF, has received approval from the California Air Resources Board (CARB) for its compression natural gas (CNG) conversion kits used on 2012 Ford F-Series 250/350 pickup trucks and E-Series 250/350 vans. CARB’s OK means the NGVs can now be sold in California. BAF is the first CNG converter in the nation to receive CARB’s certification for F-Series pickups. CNG-powered BAF E-250/350 van are already in wide use among service providers such as AT&T and Super Shuttle, and have been certified by CARB since 2007; now the certification is extended to include 2012 models. The latest NGV certification adds to permits BAF already has from CARB for several other Ford models, and it has federal Environmental Protection Agency certification for all of the models.